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Here's why you don't charge your batteries inside your model tank/truck/car

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Here's why you don't charge your batteries inside your model tank/truck/car

Old 04-09-2015, 02:21 PM
  #26  
Max-U52
 
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I've seen videos of battery failures where a jet of flame shot out from the battery. I imagine such a jet could cause damage in places you wouldn't expect.
Old 04-09-2015, 02:22 PM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by RichJohnson
For all seriousness, he told us later he was planning on tearing most of it out to expand and rebuild it.
Just the model railroad, or the entire house...?
Old 04-09-2015, 02:50 PM
  #28  
Pah co chu puk
 
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Originally Posted by RichJohnson
Hey, when we were intoxicated, we burned down my friends model rail road. He said he wanted a forest fire, and handed us a couple of lighters. It was funny, those trees are so flamable. For all seriousness, he told us later he was planning on tearing most of it out to expand and rebuild it.
Is this the friend that's moving to Colorado? He sounds fun. I sometimes have fun mixing black powder and RC tanks...
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Old 04-09-2015, 02:59 PM
  #29  
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No he actually had a business making model trees. He did quite well on the GATS circuit years ago. He got hired by a doc in swizerland to build and scenic his model RR so he made several trips over there and stocked his shop back here from the wlthers catalog with all his earnings to save tax money coming in or something like that. Well, a bunch of scum bags started leaching off him when he got back to the states. One night he wrote a note and checked out.


i just googled his business, his family is still carriying his business on. He made the best looking trees you had ever seen in your life. https://sites.google.com/site/petitepinesnorthern/

Last edited by RichJohnson; 04-09-2015 at 03:03 PM.
Old 04-09-2015, 03:07 PM
  #30  
sjhanc
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A fully charged NiCad pack can deliver a 200amp spark when shorted. A club member in one of my flying clubs who ran a hobby business out of his van left a small foam airplane in the van on charge while he went in the house. a neighbor kid banged on his door to tell him his van was smoking. In spite of the fire department arriving quickly it was a total loss including $10,000 worth of hobby merchandise. I was told the plane battery was only a few hundred mah.
Old 04-09-2015, 04:39 PM
  #31  
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The biggest factor in battery fires in R/C Applications generally comes down to one thing...charging a battery too fast, it doesnt matter if it is NICD, NIMH, LI-ION or LiFE. Fast charging batteries creates more heat, which in turn increases the chance of cells catching on fire, or insulation of wires melting causing a battery short. I have seen people quote totally unrealistic charging rates for batteries. If your charging at anything over 1 amp, repeatably then you are definately risking a fire. The battery may be able to take it, but that certainly does not mean the wires or insulation can. One of the other mistakes people make is not actually waiting for a a battery too cool, before they try and ram another charge into it, so an already hot pack becomes hotter. Your better off having multiple packs and charging at lower rates. I spent a few years working in a company that used to build battery packs so Im not just going off my own personal experience but also that of the technicians who used to work for us.
Old 04-10-2015, 07:36 AM
  #32  
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I stopped charging any batteries indores after a guy on another forum poster with pics how his house burned down and the investigation led to the spot his battery was charging.
Old 04-10-2015, 07:58 AM
  #33  
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Does it hurt to leave the batteries in the tank while not being ran for a few days? Not charging, just sitting in there plugged in. I wouldn't leave it for extended periods to prevent spewing, but a few days to a week.
Old 04-10-2015, 09:09 AM
  #34  
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I'm kinda paranoid, so I NEVER leave lipos in a tank but I've done it with Nimhs. Not charging, just sitting there with everything turned off. If someone can tell me why that's a bad idea I'll stop doing that as well. My understanding is that most problems occur during charging.
Old 04-10-2015, 09:20 AM
  #35  
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Ive never had a battery burn up at home yet, but i dont want to loose my house either. I think I will charge my batteries inside a metal bucket from now on.
Old 04-10-2015, 09:38 AM
  #36  
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The only argument I've seen about leaving batteries in the tank is that the Tamiya on-off switch does not isolate the battery, and they have a tendency to lurch forward once the battery discharges down to a certain level - I remember there were a few post about tanks leaping off shelves on here back in the day. I think everybody else (i.e. HL etc) uses a proper on-off switch that isolates the battery completely.

The other thing to watch for is the screening on the cables starting to split if they are being stuffed into a standard HL battery compartment - a few years ago I started to see this happening, and since then I've taken to cutting openings in the ends of the compartments in my tanks to allow the cables to poke thru and not be crushed between that and the end of the battery case.
Old 04-10-2015, 09:40 AM
  #37  
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This thread has made me want to charge my batteries in a fire safe
Old 04-10-2015, 09:45 AM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by RichJohnson
Ive never had a battery burn up at home yet, but i dont want to loose my house either. I think I will charge my batteries inside a metal bucket from now on.
Good idea.

I love when people recommend what they perceive as no risk, as if they will help repay when things go south.

I've never got bent diving, even though I pushed the tables a few times, but I'm not going to tell someone they can ignore the limits or bounce to 130 feet hungover. I don't see the sense in resistance to safety or questioning the motives of someone posting a photo.

I've had three lipos go up on me, all from leads shorting at the connector, not mishandled, not charged too fast. They produce an impressive flame for their size, and two of these were tiny 1 cells. The third was a two cell in my hand, on the third floor of my house at 10PM. In a span of a few seconds I had to weigh the options of tossing it out a window, possibly damaging my deck or backyard, or keeping in my shop, possibly causing a heck of a lot more damage. Fortunately I had wire cutters within arms reached, I cut the lead and dropped it in a metal pail. If puffed, but didn't blow-torch.

Yes we use these batteries in laptops, phones, etc, but those aren't connected/disconnected constantly, bounced around in a tank or on hard landings and are always charged well within the limits of their design. The jack on my Macbook only goes in one way and only delivers one current.

Remember, a single AA battery and gum wrapper foil can start a flame for survival, so anything that stores electric charge can create heat.

I leave my NiMH/NiCads in my tanks all the time, but always disconnect. How hard is it to do?
Old 04-10-2015, 10:23 AM
  #39  
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For all of you who point to cell phones, laptops, etc - Sony and Dell (and probably others too) had a massive recall a few years ago on battery packs, after a series of fires (2005 - 2006 time frame, IIRC)
Boeing got into issues more recently with the batteries on the 787, as did GM with the cells on the Volt (and Toyota went back to NiMH on the 2nd gen Prius because of failures during prototype testing, again, IIRC).
Air freighters have crashed due to Li batteries exploding during transit - pretty sure the crew wasn't busy over charging them at the time either...

I've had a tank almost go up in my lap after I wired up the circuit wrong (fastest battery disconnect in history right there!) - the battery took all of about 3 seconds to get the insulation on the cables producing enough smoke to scare the crap out of me, I'd guess 10 to 15 secs would be all it needed to start a nice fire if I had let it carry on...
Old 04-10-2015, 11:44 AM
  #40  
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Just remember, electronics run on smoke. If you let the smoke out of them, they stop working....
Old 04-10-2015, 12:15 PM
  #41  
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Pah co chu puk, that looks like Whittman's PanTiger turret flying through the air!!!! I told him over and over again to never charge the batteries inside the tank!!!

Last edited by MAUS45; 04-10-2015 at 12:18 PM.
Old 04-10-2015, 12:58 PM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by RichJohnson
Just remember, electronics run on smoke. If you let the smoke out of them, they stop working....
That's close, Rich, but it's actually magic smoke installed by Samurai Wizards in the mountains of Japan. They install the magic smoke in every tank board in the world and if you let the magic smoke out, you're right, then it doesn't work.
Old 04-10-2015, 01:01 PM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by MAUS45
Pah co chu puk, that looks like Whittman's PanTiger turret flying through the air!!!! I told him over and over again to never charge the batteries inside the tank!!!
LMAO!

Seriously, those pictures are amazing!!
(even the flying Pantiger lid, I'm sure Capt Action will join me in shedding a tear at its passing ).
Old 04-10-2015, 07:16 PM
  #44  
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Originally Posted by Ex_Pat_Tanker
LMAO!

Seriously, those pictures are amazing!!
(even the flying Pantiger lid, I'm sure Capt Action will join me in shedding a tear at its passing ).
Whittman would have lived longer if he had not charged his batteries inside a pantiger that last fateful day.
Old 04-11-2015, 06:15 AM
  #45  
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Originally Posted by Pah co chu puk
Whittman would have lived longer if he had not charged his batteries inside a pantiger that last fateful day.
So it wasn't a Firefly, it wasn't a Typhoon, it was a maintenance guy having a sausage and a smoke while charging 007's NiCads?
Old 04-11-2015, 07:07 AM
  #46  
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See, I told you guys charging in the tank is bad!
Old 04-11-2015, 01:25 PM
  #47  
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Originally Posted by ausf
So it wasn't a Firefly, it wasn't a Typhoon, it was a maintenance guy having a sausage and a smoke while charging 007's NiCads?
Yes. The high command made it look like a Firefly or a Typhoon got him so they would not be embarrassed by the fact that he knew better than to charge LiPo batteries inside a tank. Rommel told him not to, but he did not listen.
Old 04-11-2015, 02:38 PM
  #48  
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I think Rommel also told them if they ate the can of beans in their food ration they should not clown around by lighting their intestinal gas emissions in a buttoned up tank.

Or was it Patton?

rex
Old 04-13-2015, 06:52 AM
  #49  
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Can of beans and a faulty low voltage alarm took Whittman's Pantiger out!!!
Old 04-13-2015, 07:24 AM
  #50  
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LOL! Even my last cell phone the battery started to swell, popping the cover off. Scary.

I being an ex auto technician always threw caution to the wind and took extra steps to avoid the "what-ifs". I am sure those that do charge their batteries inside the tanks closely supervise the operation and don't leave the room OR the house. It's good knowing that it has been done without any consequences.



Jeff

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